A look back at the first families getting ready to enjoy their prized Thanksgiving Turkeys (24 Photos)

One of America’s older and more tender traditions dating back to 1947 involves the presidential pardoning of the turkey that takes place in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. Although, In the case of President Dwight Eisenhower, who served two terms as president from 1953 to 1961, he reportedly ate the turkeys that he was given during his time in the Oval Office. True story.

In 1955, when he was serving as President Eisenhower’s vice president, Richard Nixon met with the turkey at a ceremony outside the Capitol building.

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President Eisenhower (1956)

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In 1947, before the White House, the Kennedy family celebrated Thanksgiving in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.

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Then-vice president Johnson’s wife, whose nickname was Lady Bird, poses with the turkeys for the first families in 1962.

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Humanitarian move: In 1963, President Kennedy is the first to have publicly suggested that even though the bird is normally eaten by the first family, he said ‘let’s just keep him’, prompting the tradition of pardoning the turkey.

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President Lyndon Baines Johnson (1967)

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President Nixon (1969)

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President Reagan (1987)

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During times of armed conflict, a makeshift tradition for the sitting president has been for them to visit soldiers and help serve turkey to the troops. Following the start of the first Gulf War in 1990, President George H.W. Bush spent his Thanksgiving with the troops in Saudi Arabia.

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Barbara Bush

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President Clinton (1992)

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1998

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Clinton hosted an event at a D.C. homeless shelter in 1995 (left) before heading to Camp David, where he is seen testing the half-cooked turkey in 2000 (right)